Month: September 2011
Interview: Hamish MacDougall
Director Hamish MacDougall talks to Tom Wicker about reviving Howard Korder’s The Lights in the aftermath of the London riots and the importance of theatre as a communal experience. Hi Hamish. So, what is The Lights, which you will be reviving at The Spring from next Monday, about? The Lights, … Continue Reading Interview: Hamish MacDougall
Interview: Mark Shenton on fringe theatre
In the second part of Tom Wicker’s interview with Mark Shenton, the theatre critic and journalist explains why he accepted a position on the Off-West End ‘Offies’ Awards panel, talks about his experiences of producing a show on the London fringe and reveals what he’s looking forward to seeing in … Continue Reading Interview: Mark Shenton on fringe theatre
Ragtime
Clutching the baby she has recently tried to bury alive, young black girl Sarah sings ‘Your Daddy’s Son’. Her face is etched with pain and her voice with sorrow and confusion. It’s one of many electrifying moments in Robert McWhir’s skilful and hugely evocative re-staging of ‘Ragtime’, first performed on … Continue Reading Ragtime
One for the Road/Victoria Station
Harold Pinter’s refusal to tie his plays to a specific time or place makes them ideal for repeated resuscitation as script-long metaphors for the most recent human rights’ abuses to fill our headlines. Their battering of the mundane into dark and twisted shapes reveals the desperation and casual horror of … Continue Reading One for the Road/Victoria Station
Interview: Mark Shenton on the changing role of the theatre critic
In the first of a two-part interview, Tom Wicker talks to leading theatre critic and journalist Mark Shenton about the changing role of theatre criticism, the impact of the internet and the challenges of achieving the right tone in reviews. Mark Shenton is not a man shy of an opinion. … Continue Reading Interview: Mark Shenton on the changing role of the theatre critic
Interview: Blanche McIntyre
Interviewing Blanche McIntyre – one Saturday evening in late August – feels like a first date. We’ve known each other for 12 years, since university, where she directed me in Hamlet and Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love. We’ve faced enraged harpists storming an Edinburgh stage when we exceeded our allotted … Continue Reading Interview: Blanche McIntyre
Interview: Rick Bland
Most writers and actors would claim personal investment in the projects they undertake. But few could do so with the same legitimacy as Rick Bland, whose first stab at play-writing, dark comedy Thick, almost bankrupted him when the Arts Council refused to fund an eight-week tour of the USA in … Continue Reading Interview: Rick Bland
Disco Pigs
This production of Enda Walsh’s dazzling early play Disco Pigs begins with a discomfiting antagonism between audience and stage. A pinch-faced girl sticks her head out from behind a sheet and snorts at our heels as we take our seats. Nearby, a boy thrusts a crackling cassette player into our faces, his … Continue Reading Disco Pigs
The God of Soho
Towards the end of Raz Shaw’s production of Chris Hannan’s new play, Clem (Iris Roberts) shrugs off her clothes and proudly stands naked on the Globe stage. It’s a surprising move, but there was a bigger reaction from the audience to the shocked gasp of “Oh my God” that rang … Continue Reading The God of Soho